Those Fifteen Extra Minutes…
May 18, 2008
We joined up with Fat Tire Bike Tours in the morning, led by our American guide Marielle. She’s been in Berlin for about two years, after a brief stint in Paris.
Biking through Berlin was fun, although it is tough to get 15 people across a crosswalk before the lights change again. Luckily, drivers were fairly nice and no one was run down. We started in Alexanderplatz, under the TV-Tower, and then rode along Karl-Marx-Alle (yes, we saw the bookstore shown at the end of the movie The Lives of Others on this portion of the bike ride). I also captured the man shown in the photo with the giant balloons. We cut over to see the longest remaining section, about 1.3 km, of the Berlin Wall, known as the Eastside Gallery. Graffiti-style art was painted along the wall, but most of the original (and presumably approved) artwork has been thoroughly covered with standard graffiti for major portions of it.
This photo shows some of the wall artwork that I liked the most.
Although hunger was setting in at this point, we had one more stop before lunch: Treptower Park, a Soviet War Memorial. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this memorial is a well-kept park – very clean and well-maintained. This contrasted with Görlitzer Park, which we rode through on our way to lunch – it looked like a refugee camp for junkies in one section.
The rest of the tour brought us to visit the symbol of Berlin, a bear, and around various neighborhoods and back to Alexanderplatz for a return of the bikes and some much needed coffee.
Eventually, our group ended up at a carnival in the Neukölln, the 8th Berlin borough. This was really no different than an American carnival – rides, junk food, etc – except for maybe the views on the way into the park: pickpockets, people doing drugs (very small amounts of drugs are basically legal to possess here in Berlin) and the ubiquitous Berlin Buttcrack – I’m on my 5th or 6th sighting of someone’s butt hanging dangerously out of their pants. This developing story will be covered in later posts.
After being drenched in rain – due to those 15 minutes extra we shouldn’t have spent at the carnival – we finished with Thai food from Asia Tiger near our hotel.
The Berlin Wall on Bernauer Strasse
May 17, 2008
Yesterday we visited a portion of the Berlin Wall located on Bernauer Strasse. This general area was a site where people tried to escape from east to west as the wall was built. Across the street from the wall segment is the Berlin Wall Documentation Center, which we climbed for a view from above and then crossed the street to explore.
We also met with Ian Johnson, he Berlin Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, to discuss Berlin, story ideas and his career.
Willkommen in Berlin
May 16, 2008
Our Berlin Itinerary
May 14, 2008
Here’s a reduced version of our tentative itinerary:
Friday, May 16 – Meeting with Ian Johnson, Wall Street Journal Berlin Bureau chief, Pulitzer winner and UF graduate; Bernauer Wall Park and viewing tower
Saturday, May 17 – Fat Tire Bike Tour toward the former east; Carnival Fair in Neukoelln
Sunday May 18 – “Discover Berlin” walking tour; Checkpoint Charlie; Potsdamer Platz
Monday, May 19 – downtown of former West Berlin, KADEWE store; U-Bahn to Allied Museum in former American sector
Tuesday, May 20 – attend Friedrichstadtpalast musical/play; walk through Tacheles Art House and toward Hackescher Markt S-Bahn
Thursday, May 22 – meet with TIME magazine’s Andrew Purvis; Helmut Newton museum; other museums until 10pm
Saturday, May 24 – Lake Wannsee, Peacock Island, Alt Kladow, Olympic Stadium
Tuesday, May 27 – Friedrichshagen, BBB Brewery at the Mueggelsee Lake.
Wednesday, May 28 – Alexanderplatz – TV Tower/Fernsehturm
Hello!
May 14, 2008
On May 15, I begin my trek to Berlin to take part in the UF Photojournalism program. This blog is part of my classwork, so watch here for updates and selections from my Flickr photo site.
